1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fundraising, and in particular, to optimization of contributions to fundraising campaigns.
2. Background Art
Charitable giving constitutes an essential and growing part of the world economy, providing benefits to persons around the world. For example, charities provide funding for public projects, provide aid to reduce income inequality, and provide significant aid to persons suffering from natural disasters. According to a recent survey, charitable giving in the United States totaled over $295 billions in year 2006, which amounts to over 2.7% of total personal income. The vast majority of this sum is donated by individuals. Only a small portion (approximately 1.3%) is from “mega-gifts” that receive media attention.
The reasons why individuals donate to charities, and ways to encourage such donations, have been the subjects of extensive research. These reasons include social, psychological, and economic factors. A common technique that governments and employers use to encourage donations from individuals is by increasing the benefit of a donation through a gift-matching program. Experimental and field studies have shown that offering to match the contribution of a donor has a significant effect on the likelihood and the amount of a donation. However, such current gift-matching programs do not typically enable further customization of donations, which may better incentivize charitable gift giving.
What is needed are further ways for encouraging persons to donate to charities, to increase the amounts of such donations, and to enable donations to be made based on more complex sets of constraints relative to current techniques.